The Gateway
by Strikefence
Summary: A genius teen from Earth invents a inter-dimensional gateway that takes him to Mobius.
1. Chapter 1

Note to all readers: When this story takes the main character to Mobius it takes place in the video game world of Sonic The Hedgehog, fifteen years in the future of the current timeline. Also note, this is my first fan fiction so please be sure to read and review so I can improve my story and my writing style.

Chapter 1: Years Before It's Time

**Undisclosed Lab in the Rocky Mountains, Canada, Planet Earth, July 23****th**** 2012**

Ferris read over the readings on the screen in front of him "Looks like it could work, what do you think Solaris?"

The AI Solaris' hologram appeared to his left "We won't know until we try sir. But, if we look over the readings they are the best we've gotten so far."

The 15 year old looked over the AI's hologram thinking of when he had made her several months before. Today she took her preferred form as a thin woman with blonde hair wearing a lab coat.

Ferris smiled "I can't believe this could actually work, I could actually manage to identify the existence of alternate dimensions!"

Solaris' hologram gave it's impression of a sigh "I know your excited sir, but scientific discoveries don't find themselves you know."

The fifteen year old genius got out of his chair with a sigh "I know, I know" and he excitedly made his way down the hallway of his research lab.

He had bought his lab, or rather the supplies to build it three years ago, using the money he made from selling new advanced weapons and protective armour to the American and Canadian militaries. He still made military technology, but lately it had been more of a side project due to his current focus on inter-dimensional travel.

The lab was built into the base of a mountain in British Columbia. The entrance was inside a small cave on the westernmost side of the mountain. As an added security measure once you got deep enough into the cave there was a half-a-foot thick steel door that required finger print, retina scan, and a pass code to enter.

_I can't believe this could actually work. I could discover another dimension. I bet I could even win a Nobel Prize for this._

His thoughts became more excited as he neared the end of the hallway and the door that lead to what he would call his life's work.

As he entered the room he looked around at the equipment inside. _Just as I left it obviously. What am I even worried about, nobody can even get in let alone touch anything_.

It was a fairly sized room filled with the results of countless experiments. In one corner of the room was his Mark III No Atmosphere Protective Suit, It generally looked similar to basic space walk suits but was equipped with some little "fun" extras.

In another corner was a weapons rack with weapons ranging from a silent sniper rifle to a automatic rifle, with bullets that could go through a tank to hit their target. These were the prototypes of the weapons he had been working on for the military, they were finished but he wanted to hold onto these for a while before presenting them, for you never know when you might need some weapons nobody had yet.

Then looking in the centre he saw his prize, a bulky circular door frame with wires attaching it to several computers that were being used to monitor the inter-dimensional reactions and capabilities. This was the Inter-Dimensional Gateway.

"Solaris could, you have a trans-unit bring me a Mark IV NAPS suit please."

The holographic woman appeared next to him, "Already done sir."

"Thank you Solaris, could you also boot up the Gate scanners."

The AI's false face appeared confused "But sir, I thought we were going to run a few more tests first, make sure it's safe."

Ferris gave her a smile, "No, if it doesn't work now it won't work after more tests."

"Understood sir"

It took a minute for the robot to get there with the suit. When it arrived Ferris briefly admired his work. This particular trans-unit was painted a bright red with a black stripe stretching from front to back. The robot resembled a two foot tall, square box with four wheels for mobility and two arms with four joints, each for picking up and moving things.

Ferris quickly walked up to the robot and picked up the suit.

"Thank you" he said quickly "you are excused."

The box then drove itself back to where it was stored when not in use.

The teen then donned the suit with little difficulty, skipping the helmet deciding to put it on later.

"Solaris how much longer until the gate is active?"

"Seven minutes sir." The AI's voice sounded from all directions.

Ferris nodded, _Seven minutes until I make history, _he thought. Thinking about the list of preparations he needed to make he got to work, rechecking all the readings coming from the gate and ensuring the return device was securely attached to the wrist unit of his suit. By then seven minutes was up and a low humming sound emanated from the Gate.

Ferris looked over to his helmet, remembering to put it on. As he walked over to it his prototype gun rack caught his eye. _Never know, maybe taking a gun might not be a bad idea. _He then made his way over and clipped a pistol holster and it's corresponding silenced pistol to the tool belt on his suit, along with several extra clips of ammo.

Using a camera mounted on the wall Solaris watched her creator as he did this. "Are you sure you're going to need that, we don't even know if this will work in another dimension. Heck, we don't even know if it will have gravity."

Ferris walked over to his helmet that was sitting on a bench nearby. "I don't know, but I just have a feeling that I'd regret not bringing it more than I will if I do bring it."

By the time he was done his sentence he had reached his helmet and was beginning to put it on. After completing this task he began to walk towards the Gate until he stood around a metre away from it. "Solaris activate the gate please."

As he finished speaking the open space inside the doorway began to glimmer and then as if someone had flipped on a light switch a bright, purplish-blue light began to emit from the doorway.

"Well wish me luck" he said plainly.

"Good luck sir."

And with that he made his way into the bright unknown.

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, September 28****th****, 2012**

The red Mobian Echidna, Knuckles, watched as the sun began to lower itself in the horizon. He did this every evening, at the same time, sitting on the same step on the altar of the Master Emerald, just as he had for nearly twenty five years. The large green gem reflected the remaining rays of the sun's light in all directions in the form of bright beams of light. Knuckles stayed sitting on that step until the sunlight was no more. He then stood up,_ About time to go home I suppose._

He then began to wander towards the small wooden hut he called home. It was small but it had all the basic necessities. A bed, a fridge, a roof, he had even recently bought a flat screen for when he got bored.

"Home sweet home." he said happily as he walked in the door.

He then proceeded to preform his usual evening routine. He began by making himself dinner, leftover porkchop with a side of caesar salad this evening, he then sat down on the edge of his bed and enjoyed the fruits of his basic labour. He was then about to turn on the TV for some "dinner theatre" when the phone rang. Knuckles quickly finished the bite in his mouth then reached over to his bedside table and answered the phone.

"Hello?" he said immediately

A voice with what on Earth would be described as a British accent answered, "Good evening Knuckles."

"Evening Professor, how can I help you."

"Well if your offering your assistance"

Knuckles calmly interrupted the man, "Professor we both know where this is going, you're going to ask for my help in some ruin somewhere on the island and then explain to me some sort of over complicated reason why you're thankful for my assistance and couldn't do it without me. So lets just skip the crap and tell me where you want me to meet you."

If the professor was surprised at this statement his voice didn't show it "Very well, meet me at our campsite."

"I'll be there in ten."

Knuckles hung up his end of the call and placed his phone on his bedside table. He sighed, it wasn't that he disliked the archeologists who were working in the ruins on the island, he just hated that they seemed to think that he would tend to their every need whenever they find something they don't completely understand. He was the guardian of the Master Emerald not a personal assistant.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hey guys welcome to chapter 2 of the gateway. YAY! *rolls eyes* Anywho thank you to the one person who reviewed and to all you who didn't please do, every review I receive will help me improve as an author. Also don't expect all my new chapters to be published so quickly, I just had some extra time so I finished this one quickly.

Well anyway, I hope you enjoy the second chapter and have a nice day.

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Light At The End Of The Tunnel<p>

**Unidentified Space, Date Unknown**

Ferris looked out into the space surrounding him. Lights. Some big, some small, in all colours and shapes. In a sense he felt like he was floating but at the same time weighed down. He looked at the small screen on his wrist, _No atmosphere, zero gravity_, _either it worked and I'm in some sort of infinite space, or_ _Solaris had some trans-units bring me to the holo-chamber. That still wouldn't explain the lack of atmosphere though. _

He looked around again, fascinated with the scene around him. But then... Ferris watched as one of the smaller lights, this one blue, began to move. Transfixed in this light moving towards him all he could do is stare.

The light was upon him in very little time, enveloping him in it's bright blue rays. _Well this is different, _He began to think.

Squinting, he managed to make out an image, an island. The island appeared to be covered in a dense jungle with several stone monuments jutting out above the tree line. Close to the centre of the island there was a large, barren mountain with yet another monument built into the side.

At first appearances this island looked like it could be a normal regular island on Earth that must have at one time been inhabited by ancient Mayans or Aztecs, but there was one discrepancy. While taking a look at the island's borders Ferris realized that this island was actually floating or, at least gave the appearance of floating, with the bright light in his eyes he couldn't be sure.

Wondering how much time had passed Ferris decided to check his wrist screen and was surprised to find that it still worked.

Pondering this conundrum seemed to be the only thing to do at the moment so for the next few minutes he closed his eyes and used his most effective body part: his brain.

In his pondering he came up with what he deemed to be a logical explanation: since the device he was using to measure time was man made and therefore not actually an accurate or perfect measurement his clock must continue counting at the pre-set pace and will not stop counting even if it's in a place where time doesn't exist.

Satisfied with his solution Ferris became somewhat relaxed. Quickly however he remembered his current location and became slightly worried. "Maybe I should try using the return device," he muttered to himself.

As he was muttering the light around him began to fade and quickly he was able to see the island in more detail. With this detail he confirmed his suspicions about the island floating in the air, seeing the island's bottom stick out beneath it. The bottom of the island gave it the appearance that it had at one time been part of the land below but some unseen force brought it up and kept it afloat.

As well the additional detail allowed him to see what appeared to be roughly humanoid figures gathering around one of the monuments, this one a pyramid-like structure, and examining it. What they were examining it for he had no idea.

While watching these figures something caught his eye, a glimmer of green at one of the smaller alters near the mountain. This altar was mostly blocked by trees but from what Ferris could see it was in worse shape than the pyramid one. This one gave the appearance that it was some place of worship with a flat circular top where in the centre, a large green gem sat.

The first thought that came to his mind was that perhaps the locals honoured this gem as some sort of god or deity. He wouldn't blame them if they did this gem was massive and if sold it would probably be worth somewhere in the tens of millions if not more.

Getting bored with staring at the gem Ferris began to notice that the island felt like it was getting closer. Slowly but at a reasonable pace he was able to see the island on a larger scale. At the rate he was going he figured he'd land on the island in a couple of minutes.

_This could be a problem,_ he felt himself worry, _of course for all I know this could just be some sort of mirage-like image._

As he got closer to the island he felt his speed continually increase to speeds he knew would kill him if he hit the ground. Considering his options he decided the best thing to do was to use his return device, he had the information he needed with his eye witness account and the data from the built in camera in his helmet he would at least win a get some research grants, he could even get the Nobel Prize in physics he wanted. But there was something, something inside of him that said that if he did this he was going to miss out on some sort of important discovery.

Looking at the ground he was speeding towards he realized his time to make a decision was short he had maybe thirty seconds before he hit the ground. Praying to God he was making the right decision he closed his eyes and made his choice.

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, September 28****th****, 2011**

The guardian was not in a good mood, the archeologists had called him to help them for a simple translation job. Apparently they were too "busy" to get their computers and run the translation program and the lead archeologist Professor Roland had found it convenient to call Knuckles and waste his time. Knuckles had realized the second he heard the professors's voice on the phone he would be stuck in some useless task, but he had expected something a little more interesting. Although he could easily read ancient Echidna script it was still a waste of his time which he could be using for protecting the Master Emerald.

Now after completing his menial task the red Mobian was taking a quick detour to check on the Master Emerald before he headed home. Seeing the glittering gem always lifted his spirits a little. Tonight was no different. Walking up to the emerald he felt some his annoyance melt away, not completely, but enough to calm him down at least.

Not feeling the urge to leave yet the echidna sat down for meditation and reached out with his natural connection to the Master Emerald. In it he saw what he usually saw, the life on Mobius going about in it's natural circle, with plants, animals, humans, and mobians all resting in a semi-perfect harmony. The natural harmony of Mobius was never perfect there would always be people on the planet who wished to use people to their own ends, but at times the planet got close to perfection, this was one of those times. It had been since Robotnik was arrested and placed in a maximum security GUN prison cell.

Shortly into watching this the Emerald began to show him a vision. In his vision he saw Angel Island, in full colour and detail, above it a brightly shining blue star. For a moment the image stayed still and the guardian watched as something small and indiscernible in it's shape fell from the star and entered a full plummet for the floating island. Just as the figure was about to hit the island the vision stopped bringing Knuckles back to reality. Standing up Knuckles began to ponder the implications of this message from the emerald. Closing his eyes Knuckles pointed his face to the sky searching for answers the sky above might hold. Once his face was pointed up he opened his eyes, just in time to see a projectile falling from the sky headed right towards him.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hey guys welcome to chapter 3 of The Gateway. I'd like to say thank you to all you who have been reading and to the one person who has reviewed. Anyway I know you want to start reading so to wrap up please remember to review when you're done thanks.

_Sincerely Strikefence_

Chapter 3: Arrival

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, September 28****th****, 2012**

"Holy Shi..." Knuckles exclaimed as he dove out of the way.

The place where he was standing not two seconds ago was now a seven foot wide crater, and in the middle lay the figure of a human. Knuckles walked over and peered into the crater. For such a fall the human appeared nearly unscathed, with just a few rips in what appeared to be some sort of strange spacesuit.

Jumping into the crater Knuckles walked over and looked at the body more closely. Not knowing who this person was Knuckles just watched the body for a moment, but curiosity overwhelmed him and he found himself pulling off the human's helmet. Underneath he found the still breathing face of a teenage boy. Looking at his face Knuckles felt it safe to assume he was either fifteen or sixteen.

_Well I can't leave him here can I? _Knuckles felt himself thinking. _At least not this close to the Master Emerald._

Knowing the right thing to do was to probably bring the teen somewhere safe Knuckles picked him up, hung his unconscious body over his shoulder like a potato sack and began the short trek to his hut.

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, October 1****st****, 2012**

Ferris began to wake up slowly. At first he resisted, trying to coax himself back into dreamland, but he knew he would have to get up eventually, he needed to check on the lab.

_Wait a second, I'm not in the lab! _Ferris bolted up suddenly and was met with an annoying ache in his neck, back and head. Especially his head. After sitting up he immediately examined his surroundings. He was laying in a bed inside what appeared to be a large hut or shed of some sort. The be he was in was in the farthest corner from the door. Now sitting on the edge of the bed, Ferris looked at the large plasma screen television sitting on a table in front of him.

"Hmm, maybe I'm still on Earth," he reasoned with himself. "What're the odds that another dimension has plasma screens?"

Standing he found himself in the khakis and plaid buttoned-T he had been wearing under his NAPS suit.

"This is getting weirder and weirder" he said to the empty room.

Looking around he immediately saw his NAPS suit laying on a table with the helmet laying on top. Both appeared damage with the suit having several rips and the helmet having many scratches and a few cracks. Beside the suit he found his pistol and it's holster with the extra clips of ammo laying in a pile next to it. Quickly he strapped the holster to his belt and slipped the ammo into his many pockets. Realizing his suit would be more of a burden than a useful tool in this environment he left it on the table, telling himself he would grab it later once he figured out where he was.

Finally, he laid his eyes on the wrist unit. At first glance it appeared nearly unscathed, with a few scratches on the outer metal and a small crack in the corner of the screen. Quickly however he saw the return device, attached to the wrist unit, was damaged. The small white box had one side of it ripped open and it appeared that the inner components were damaged. Seeing this, Ferris concluded that if this was indeed a alternate dimension he would need to find some way to repair the R.D. or else he wasn't going home.

"Well at least I didn't rip my shirt," he muttered under his breath.

Exiting the door he immediately noticed the hut he had been in was in the middle of some form of forest. Moving his gaze to the right he saw a small path that lead through the trees. He decided to follow it, figuring that following the path was as good a idea as any. He then broke into a light jog down the path curious as to what he would find.

After jogging through the dense forest Ferris came out into a clearing. In the centre of this clearing sat the altar with large green gem he had noticed while watching the island from the blue light. Slowing his jog to a walk he holstered his pistol, walked up to the altar, and began to walk up the stone steps.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked a voice behind him.

Turning around Ferris was shocked at what he saw. Behind him in the clearing stood a short red figure standing at the edge of a small crater. The figure had something similar to dreadlocks coming from the back of it's head and only a white sideways crescent on it's red chest. It's face was also red with the exception of a peach covered muzzle around it's mouth and nose.

"What, are you going to sit there and stare at me? Do I have something in my teeth?" the red figure grinned, obviously amused with it's own joke.

Ferris managed to force out the main question on his mind, "Wh-what are you?"

The figure looked at him with a hint of surprise, "So I save your life and in return you act as if you're talking to an alien?"

By now Ferris had regained his composure and identified that this creature in front of him was intelligent and seemed at ease speaking to someone who wasn't of his own species, whatever that was.

"Please, humour me. And also do you have a name or something I can call you?"

"Of course I have a name..."

"And that is?"

The creature raised one of it's gloved hands in front of it's face and Ferris noticed for the first time how they seemed large in comparison to the rest of his body. As well as being unnaturally large each hand had two cone-shaped spikes protruding from the knuckles.

"My name is Knuckles The Echidna."

Ferris was slightly confused, "So is Echidna your last name or your species?"

Knuckles looked at the strange teen. He wasn't quite sure what it was but something made him very willing to answer these strange questions. In most cases he would have just blown him off but this human seemed to be honestly curious. _Maybe he grew up in one of those anti-Mobian communities down the south, _Thought Knuckles.

"It's neither, Echidna is my race"

"Oh so kind of like Caucasian and African," Ferris blurted out without thinking but was surprised to hear Knuckles' answer.

"Yeah pretty much."

Ferris' brain was running at a million miles a minute. What could it mean if this creature, Knuckles, knew what Caucasian and African mean? Could there be humans on whatever world this is?

"Hey Knuckles, two questions."

"I'm listening."

"Firstly, what planet is this? And secondly, are there humans here?"

Knuckles looked at Ferris incredulously. Was this teen crazy or was he just simply stupid? How could he not know what planet he was on? As well there were obviously humans here, he was one.

"We're on Mobius," he stated still confused, "and yes there are humans here."

Ferris was astounded, what were the odds that one species could exist in two different dimensions? Ferris sat down on the step and put his head in his hands. This was a lot to comprehend, and any regular person would probably be to shocked to even attempt to understand what he had learned.

_Maybe I'm thinking this through to throughly, _he thought to himself, _Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is to just accept it._

Seeing the teen sit on the step Knuckles walked up and stood in front of him. This gave Ferris his first chance to assess the height of the Mobian. He was standing at what Ferris guessed to be somewhere around three and a half feet tall, and therefore was only about half the height of Ferris himself.

Knuckles looked over the Ferris with a worried look on his face. He wasn't quite sure what was up with this guy but the Master Emerald had shown him to Knuckles, a little later than he would have preferred but, the Emerald wouldn't tell him anything that didn't have any significance. Also to top it all off he fell from the flippin sky.

"You ok..." Knuckles paused implying he wanted a name.

The human looked at the red Mobian's face, "Ferris."

"...Ferris?"

"Yeah I think I'm ok."

Knuckles thought for a second. This human looked like he needed somewhere to think and he still wasn't sure if he could be a threat to the Master Emerald.

Looking up to the sun Knuckles spoke, "It would appear it's lunch time."

Suddenly a large rumble was emitted from the human's stomach, "It would seem my stomach agrees with you."

Knuckles chuckled and turned towards the forest path that had lead Ferris to the altar, "Follow me I've got some food in my hut."

He then began to head towards the forest. Ferris watched him begin to walk and unsure of what to do he followed wondering what in the world they considered food in this place.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hello all and welcome to chapter 4. So far my current chapters have all been what I like to call my introductory chapters and this shall be the last of them. I promise chapter 5 shall start to bring a real plot to this story. So anyway thanks for reading and please don't forget to review.

_Sincerely, Strikefence_

Chapter 4:

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, October 1****st****, 2012**

The walk down the forest path began in silence which confused Knuckles. For the short time he had known the teen walking behind him he had been pressed with questions of things any regular person should know.

Finally Knuckle broke the silence."So how did you end up on Angel Island?"

Ferris shook his head, "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Knuckles gave a slight grin, "Look kid, I'm the guardian of a magical emerald that keeps an island afloat in the air, I've fought along side a supersonic hedgehog to defeat a fat genius, and I've been on a fifty-year-old space station as it plummeted on a crash course for Mobius. I think I can handle whatever you have to tell me."

The teen looked at the Echidna confused and answered him, "So what do you know of inter-dimensional travel?"

Knuckles stopped and turned around to look at the human and exclaimed, "Wait what?"

Ferris repeated himself slowly, "Inter-dimensional travel."

Knuckles gave him a look, "No I got that but, are you saying you're from some other dimension?"

Ferris had been afraid of this. He had figured that telling the Mobian that he had came from another dimension could result in confusion. He was surprised that Knuckles had caught on so fast though.

"I hadn't got to that part yet but, that was pretty much what I was going to say."

Knuckles looked at one of the many trees around them, "Well that would explain why you fell from the sky."

Ferris smiled, "Yeah I guess." He paused to think about what he was saying, "Wait so I _did _fall from the sky?"

"Yup."

"How am I still alive?"

"No idea."

Ferris thought back to his ripped NAPS Suit and damaged wrist unit. They had been damaged but, not to the point where he would have considered falling from the sky to be the cause. Then he remembered how he had fallen into this dimension and the speed he had fallen at.

Knuckles interrupted his train of thought, "Hey, we should get going and get lunch, I don't want to be away from the Master Emerald for too long."

Knuckles began to walk again with Ferris in tow. Shortly they arrived at the hut Ferris had woken up in.

"So it was you brought me here after I 'fell'?" he emphasised fell with a bit of a sarcastic tone attached.

"Well I couldn't just leave you lying there so close to the Master Emerald, could I?"

The teen looked at the short Mobian who was now opening his front door, "No, I suppose you couldn't." He paused, "Hey what's with you and that huge gem anyway?"

Knuckles spoke as he walked in the door. "The huge gem is the Master Emerald and it is my job to protect it."

The teen walked in the hut and gave another look at his broken wrist unit that lay on the table. Unfortunately it had remained broken in the short time he had been gone. Peering at his helmet next, he noticed that the visor had sustained more damage than he had originally thought with thin cracks running all across it.

Meanwhile, as Ferris was busy looking over his broken equipment, Knuckles was grabbing some deli-cut turkey for some sandwiches.

"Hey do you mind turkey?" Knuckles asked over his shoulder.

Ferris tried hard to cover over his surprise at the mention of a meat from Earth. "Um, yeah sure."

Knuckles turned back to his fridge and pulled out a loaf of bread, a head of lettuce, a jar of mayonnaise, and to Ferris' surprise a bowl of grapes.

"If you're putting those on the sandwiches please keep them to yourself."

Knuckles chuckled at this and placed the bowl on the table in front of Ferris. "Why, do they do that in the dimension you come from?"

"No I thought that might be something you do here."

This gained a small laugh from them both before they each turned back to their respective projects. Shortly after they both sat down on Knuckles' couch, eating their sandwiches and grapes. When Knuckles had finished his sandwich he looked over to Ferris, the teen was busy holding his sandwich in one hand and holding a small white box in the other. Although Knuckles had never been much of a techie it was quite evident to him that the box was damaged, it was covered in several scratches and one side was completely ripped open. Through the opening several wires were hanging out and most of them were broken.

They had sat in quiet for several minutes before Knuckles broke the silence. "So what is the box supposed to be?"

Ferris looked over to the Mobian slightly startled, as usual he had gotten engrossed in his work and had nearly forgotten about the person right next to him.

"Well at the moment it isn't supposed to do anything, it's broken."

"Well I can see that but, if it wasn't broken what would it do?"

"It would bring me home."

Knuckles looked away clearly thinking of something. It appeared he came up with it quickly because he turned back to Ferris quickly.

"You know, I'm completely useless with electronics, but I do have a friend who might be able to help."

**Station Square, Planet Mobius, October 1****st****, 2012**

The yellow Mobian fox was sitting in his office inside his company headquarters. His company: Prower Industries. His name: Miles Prower, or as his friends call him, Tails. His nickname arose from his two yellow and white tipped tails that sprouted from his lower back.

His office was relatively empty with a hard oak desk with a computer on it, a book shelf, a filing cabinet, and some chairs being the only furniture inside. This was because he rarely used it, instead preferring to work in his workshop in the Mystic Ruins where he could do real work and not company politics, he had people who did that for him. Today however was an exception. Today he had a meeting with the GUN general, Brais.

_Trying to get me to develop some sort of weapon no doubt, _thought the fox.

Prower Industries had a strong rule regarding weapons, they were to have nothing to do with them. After the defeat of Eggman Tails had dedicated his life to helping the world develop new technology that helped society. He didn't want to throw that all away just because GUN wanted some new toys.

On his desk a phone rang. Tails picked it up and answered, "Yes?"

A woman's voice answered "Sir, General Brais is here to see you"

"Thank you Vicky, send him up."

It was not long before a knock sounded on the office door.

"Come in."

The general entered the room and walked towards the desk, stopping about a foot in front of it.

Tails looked at the human male. He had grey hair and strange mismatched eyes, one blue and one brown, that seemed to drill into your person as they evaluated you. Tails thought the man to be somewhere around Forty-five years old, almost twice as old as Tails. From what Tails knew the general was the second member of his family to hold his position.

"Welcome, sit." Tails' voice sounded peasant but obviously faked. "So what brings you here General?"

Half an hour later the general left leaving Tails seriously annoyed. The General Brais had requested that Prower Industries begin producing Cyclone Model S for military use. The TMS was a walker type robot with several turrets, a multi-shot homing missile launcher, and an ability which allowed it to transform into a plane. Tails had designed it based on the design of the original Cyclone or Tornado 3, which he had used during the Biolizard Incident. Tails had refused of course, and in turn had received a thinly veiled threat on his company's finances. However even with the threat Tails wasn't worried, GUN wouldn't attack his company one way or another it was to important. Prower Industries was the world's leading supplier of electronics, alternative fuels, and medicine. Attacking the finances of the company would hurt the world economy too strongly.

Tails picked up his phone and pressed the three-digit code that linked to his secretary. The phone rang once before she answered.

"Hello."

"Vicky do I have any more appointments today?"

There was the sound of keys on a computer being pressed and than a reply, "No sir you're clear for the rest of the day."

"Thanks Vicky, see you later."

Tails got up out of his chair and headed for the door. As he was turning the nob the phone on his desk rang. He quickly walked over and answered.

"Hello."

Vicky's voice replied, "Sir someone on the phone for you, a Knuckles."

"Patch him through please."

The sound of static filled the phone for several seconds followed by the familiar voice of Knuckles. "Hey Tails."

"Hey Knux, long time."

It had been a long time. Since Robotnic's arrest six years ago, Tails had only seen Knuckles a handful of times. According to Tails' friend Sonic, Knuckles was probably too busy staring at his big rock.

"Yeah long time..." His voice trailed away for a second and Tails thought he detected a bit a regret in his voice.

"So Knuckles what's up?"

"Well I was kind of hoping you could help me out with something."

"And what would that be?" he said, with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Well it's a little hard to explain over the phone. Any chance you could come to Angel Island?"

"Sure, I guess, I'll fly over once I get home."

"Thanks! See you later."

"K' Bye."

Tails then exited the building and headed to the train station to catch the next ride to Mystic Ruins, where his house was. His trip on the train was peaceful, just as nearly everything was these days. Peace was good, he knew that, but at some times he thought back to the constant action of when Robotnik was loose and in some ways missed it, not the constant attacks on world peace but the excitement that was the adventure. Little did he know that new excitement was just around the corner.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Hello all and welcome to my domain, mwah ha ha ha... anywho welcome to chapter five of The Gateway, sorry it took me so long to post, I didn't get any time to work on it over the Easter Break. Anyway, don't forget to review when you're done and thank's for reading.

_Yours truly, Strikefence_

Chapter 5: Prisoner

**Prison Island, Planet Mobius, October 1****st****, 2012**

A orange clothed doctor by the name of Ivo Robotnik sat in his white, boxed in cell with a thick steel door, drawing robot designs like usual. It was all the guards would let him do thanks to his "dangerous" history. Looking over to his hand drawn calender he had on his white writing desk for what felt like the millionth time that day he sighed. One year, seven months, and twenty five days, that's how long he'd been in here. This surprised him truly as he had expected to find a way out by now. Unfortunately escape wasn't possible in here with completely locked down cell in the centre of the largest military prion in the world. It didn't help that a team of eight guards was just outside the cell doors bearing rifles and begging him to twitch.

The overweight scientist looked down at his unusually small but still bigger than most belly in sadness.

"What have I become?" he asked himself in a small voice. "A prisoner of GUN?" his voice was slowly gaining volume. "I am Robotnik, not one of GUN's toys!" By the last word he was screaming. Of course anyone who might have heard him wouldn't have cared, his rants were a usual occurrence.

When the first rant had occurred just over a year before, the prison's warden had been worried, not for the sake of the prisoner but for his own. If GUN command had discovered that their prize prisoner had gone crazy before they managed to have some psychiatrists delve into his mind, they would have gone ecstatic, and at the very least would have given the warden his very own prison cell. Therefore, to save his job, the warden had hired his own shrink to look over the tapes of the fat man's rants. According to the psychiatrist these rants were just Robotnik's way of keeping himself sane. Just happy that his current freedom was safe the warden didn't press the matter further.

Outside his cell Robotnik heard the sounds of several small pops and the same amount of something hitting the ground. Curious, the fat man walked over to the cell door, pressed his ear against it, and strained to hear something more. As he began to do so the door opened, revealing the shape of a burly man wearing brown military fatigues. The name tag on his chest read Officer Reggie Mourain but Robotnik knew better. He knew his robots when he saw them.

The said scientist quickly regained his composure and looked sternly at his creation, "Ah H.A. twenty one, it's about damn time."

The supposed soldier looked down at it's creator with soulless eyes and began to speak, monotone throughout, "Forgive me master but it was just recently I was able to infiltrate the..."

Robotnik interrupted, "Oh shut it, I don't have time for your excuses just tell me how we're getting out of here!"

"Follow me." was all the robot said before it began to walk down the hall.

* * *

><p>From his seat inside the Egg Eagle Robotnik watched his handy work with a grin on his face. The prison was in shambles, guards lay dead on the ground, and Robotnik was now in possession of his freedom. All in all, not a bad day.<p>

"Computer." he commanded, "Set course for the Mystic Ruins."

Robotnik's grin grew even wider. His next plan was about to begin.

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, October 1****st****, 2012**

Ferris stood at the steps of the Master Emerald's altar watching the hovercraft descend. After finishing lunch, Knuckles mad made a phone call and subsequently had left the hut for the Master Emerald with Ferris in tow. While walking, Knuckles had explained that the friend he had called was extremely good with mechanics and would hopefully be able to help Ferris replace his R.D. or as Knuckles called it the dohickey.

So now they stood here waiting for the other Mobian's hovercraft to land. The hovercraft had the appearance of a small two seater plane but with a sort of round propulsion unit on each wing. From each propulsion unit Ferris could just barely see the fait ripples where the air was distorted and forced to keep the craft flying. The plane itself was painted a royal blue with a sort of emblem on each side showing two yellow tails with white tips.

As the craft landed and the pilot got out Ferris got his first look at a Mobian other than Knuckles. Any normal person would have crapped their pants. As Ferris found himself staring at the yellow fox Knuckles was walking over to greet him.

As Knuckles approached he greeted his friend. "Hey Tails long time no see."

"Yeah long time." Tails looked over to the human staring at him, "Um, is that the guy you mentioned?"

"Yep."

Tails looked a little awkward, "Is there any reason he's staring at me?"

Knuckles turned his head to see his human acquaintance wide eyed at the appearance of Tails. "Don't worry he's more scared of you than you are of him."

Tails rolled his eyes and muttered, "Maybe, but it's still weird."

The fox walked over to Ferris, "So, your name is?"

Ferris regained his composure and managed to look the fox in the eyes. "Ferris." He paused and looked over the fox again. "So are you also a Mobian?"

"Um, yeah." he spoke slowly, implying he thought the human was an idiot.

Knuckles walked towards the two and stood beside Tails, "You might as well cut him some slack, he did fall from the sky after all."

Tails stared at Knuckles as if he had tumours growing out of his hands, "Wait, what?"

The next half hour was spent with Ferris explaining his current predicament to Tails who listened intently obviously interested. After his explanation Knuckles prodded him into talking about Earth and in return the two Mobians gave him some information about the dimension he was currently in. From what Ferris understood, Mobius society was close if not identical to Earth society. The only real noticeable differences he could find were that here there were two sentient species and that Mobius was more technologically advanced than Earth. The latter was quite evident in the flying vehicle Tails had used.

After their conversation Tails noticed something about Ferris for the first time. Pointing at the human's belt he asked in a careful tone, "So why exactly does a inter-dimensional traveller require a gun?"

Ferris looked down to his holstered gun that he had completely forgot. Looking up to or rather a little less down he gave only a slightly joking response to answer the question. "Better to be safe than sorry I guess."

Tails and Knuckles each gave him a confused look but didn't push the matter further. During the slight break in conversation, Tails, remembering why he had come asked, "So where is this broken return unit?"

Ferris pulled the small white box out of his pocket and handed it to Tails. Holding it close to his face so he could see the broken components inside Tails began to turn over the box as if to see every single detail.

"Yep, it's broken alright."

Rolling his eyes Ferris replied, "Well I know that, but what I need to know is if you have the parts so I can fix it."

Growing somewhat bored of watching the two smart ones stare at a box, Knuckles walked up the Master Emerald Altar and sat down on the top step.

Tails looked up from the box briefly to address Ferris. "Well I don't have the parts here but I would probably have something at my workshop you could use." pausing Tails added, "but I have one other idea."

Ferris intrigued by this had to ask, "And what could that be?"

Still starring at the box the Mobian stated, "We could use the box's basic design to build a whole new gateway."

Ferris was unexpectedly surprised by this idea. He hadn't even thought of that. If successful, building two gateways could possibly create a two way door between dimensions.

"Why not? It's worth a shot."


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Welcome reader to a Fanfiction wonderland you have never experienced before. Just kidding, this is just a regular episode of The Gateway. Anywho I can't seem to think of anything else to say so enjoy and don't forget to review.

Sincerely, Strikefence

Chapter 6: Hellstorm

**Undisclosed Lab in the Rock Mountains, Planet Earth, Canada, January 13th 2013**

Days Creator Missing: 174

Solaris poured her consciousness over the data stream from the United Nations General Assembly meeting and began to watch. Currently the representative from The People's Republic Of China was speaking.

"This is a terrible accusation! The great country of China would never openly attack an American ship under any circumstances!"

The United States representative stood up. "Then please explain the irrefutable video evidence that clearly shows the U.S.S. Liberty taking fire from and proceeding to be boarded by Chinese navy personnel."

This comment threw the meeting into chaos with representatives from countries on both sides of the argument standing up and screaming at each other. If Solaris had a body she would have facepalmed, arguments like this were becoming a common in the UN during the recent months, ever since the United States along with several supporting nations had each passed laws raising taxes on goods coming from countries such as China and Taiwan.

Solaris withdrew her main consciousness from the live feed, placing a recording program in her stead so that she could review the footage at a later date. She had been paying close attention to world affairs as of late just as Ferris had before... No. she pushed all thoughts of him out of her metaphorical head. It was all she could do to keep sane.

With her now free consciousness she turned her attention to hacked satellite feed from around the world. This was another way she kept on top of world affairs. By watching over the world from above she could see any war, conflict, or satellite TV show she wanted. Lately she had been increasingly interested in a certain place of construction so she turned her attention there. With her now focused detail she watched over a small three kilometer patch of land on the east coast of China. On this patch of land were missiles. Four non-nuclear trans-continental missiles to be exact. All ready and willing to launch at any given target the Chinese government should so choose.

Looking more carefully the AI noticed something was different about the missiles today. Not the missiles themselves but the area around them. Unlike usual there were no people anywhere near the deadly warheads. This was strange as there were almost always scientists and engineers working around the clock to finish these death dealers for wherever they would be launched.

Quickly however it became quite apparent why the workers were not present, as one of the missiles began to emit a large cloud of white smoke from it's bottom side. As the missile began to take off one of it's companions began to give off smoke also and soon after the last two began to give off smoke in preparation for launch. Soon all the warheads were off each headed towards it's destination. Each headed east.

Using the position of the launch point and the current position Solaris quickly calculated the approximate trajectory and matched them up with the locations of heavily populated cities within three hundred kilometres of North America's west coast. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver were the cities that showed up. Solaris knowing there were four projectiles expanded her search and found the fourth target, Honolulu.

If an AI could shudder Solaris would have, the thought of all the people who would die if these projectiles hit was terrifying.

Solaris all of a sudden felt a determination her memory banks had last recorded one-hundred-seventy-four days before. She began to track the the speed of each missile. At the current speeds the first death dealer would hit it's Hawaiian target in approximately two minutes, forty seven seconds. That was more than enough time to do what she did best, hacking.

In exactly one eighth of a millisecond she had accessed the Chinese military network. Knowing full well that she had very little time before some Chinese techie detected her presence she got to work. In a matter of seconds she had found the server controlling the missile's navigation. Taking control she promptly sent it strait into the ocean.

Reveling in her quick moment of triumph Solaris was completely unprepared for the wave of attacks that bombarded her. Pain flared through her programing and she was pushed back out of the navigation control. Knowing she would never be able to stop the incoming hellstorm if she let herself get completely pushed out of the server she fought back, sending a flurry of cyber attacks while blocking the attacks they sent at her. This continued for what felt like ages neither side gaining any ground. Worried about the other targets she briefly she turned her attention to missile tracking and discovered the terrible reality, thirteen seconds until the next missile hit L.A..

Suddenly aware of how imminent the death of so many innocent people, Solaris lost focus and immediately received a quick and violent volley of digital attacks from her enemies. Unable to defend herself in time she immediately felt extreme pain in all parts of her programing. Realizing she would be unable to survive another attack she completely withdrew back to her main server within the Rocky Mountains leaving only a small untraceable connection to a satellite remaining.

Using her satellite connection, Solaris watched as the first missile entered Los Angeles city limits and strike down in the busy city center.

Solaris, unable to take any more shut off her connection to the satellite and retreated to the core of her mainframe. It would be several months until the next time she returned to looking out onto the outside world.

* * *

><p><strong>Angel Island, Planet Mobius, October 1st 2012<strong>

The remainder of Tails' visit was spent with him and Knuckles recounting all that had happened to each of the over the past few years spent without contact. Of course Tails' story was much more interesting with him being in control of a large company and Knuckles only excitement being the occasional satellite TV show.

Ferris was also fascinated in each of their stories as they helped him to further understand the mechanics of this dimension's population.

Eventually it reached the time where Tails had to head home so the two Mobians along with their human compatriot approached Tail's hovercraft plane. As Tails walked up to get in the pilot's seat he glanced back and saw Ferris standing just behind Knuckles totally oblivious to how he should get in the craft.

Tails gave a mental sigh and tried not to make his annoyance public. "Well aren't you coming?"

Ferris had a classic "oh right" look on his face as he replied with the usual statement that accompanies said look, "Oh right, of course."

Tails was seriously doubting Ferris' claim that he was a genius.

Ferris proceeded to walk up to Tails' hover plane and climb into the passenger seat. After watching him do so, Tails turned to give Knuckles his goodbye.

"You know, you should come down from Angel Island for a visit once and a while. I'm sure even Sonic would enjoy seeing you again, even if it would only be because he'd be able to annoy you again."

Knuckles gave a slight grin, "Actually I was considering doing just that. I'm thinking I might bring angel Island to float above the Mystic Ruins for a while, I'm curious how this gateway thing is going to work out."

Tails looked back at his plane, "Good, then I guess I'll be seeing you."

"Yep, see you later."

Tails walked up to the hover plane where a bored looking Ferris was waiting. "So are we going to get going soon, I'm kinda interested in seeing more of this Mobius?"

The yellow Mobian climbed into the pilot's seat and threw back a pair of blue goggles. "Here, put these on and we'll head out."

Ferris placed the goggles over his eyes, immediately noticed the tightness. They were obviously not made for his size of head. In the front seat Tails pressed a green button on the crafts control board. Immediately a faint hum emitted from the planes engines and it slowly floated off the ground. The craft began to to slowly move forward, picking up speed as it went.

Ferris looked over and gave out a loud "See you later Knuckles" before the craft sped fast enough to fly off into the distance.

* * *

><p><strong>Mystic Ruins, Planet Mobius, October 1st 2012<strong>

Ferris looked over the edge of the hover plane for what felt like the hundredth time. Each and every time so far all he had seen was ocean, ocean, and more ocean but, this time he saw something different. In the distance the teen could just make out the rough shape of a cliff face.

Ferris had to strain his voice to be heard over the rushing wind, "Is that it?"

Tails turned his head slightly and gave a blunt, "Yep."

That was how it had been the entire flight, Ferris would try to start a conversation and Tails would give a one to two word answer to shut him down. The human was beginning to think that Tails was either an antisocial person or he just flat out didn't like him. Then again the yellow Mobian had seemed pretty chummy with Knuckles maybe he didn't... Ferris pushed the thoughts out of his head. It honestly didn't matter to him whether Tails liked him or not, he needed the fox's help to get home and any hostility he might receive would have to be ignored if he was going to get home any time soon.

As the craft drew closer to it's destination Ferris was able to make out more details of the cliff face. Directly in the path of the craft was a section of the cliff that was higher than the rest. From this elevated section Ferris noticed a long flat cliff shooting out with what appeared to be a paved road splitting the cliff down the middle. At the end of the road was a small, mismatched two story house that Ferris thought looked like it had been built in a day.

Shortly after making his observations Ferris noticed that the plane seemed to be slowly descending towards the cliff-road that he had noticed before. Rather than ask Tails whether the road was actually a runway and in return receive some form of one word answer he figured it was probably safe to stick to his original assumption.

Soon enough the craft set down on the runway and both occupants stepped back on to solid ground. Tails began to walk towards a garage door that faced the runway. Beside the door was a ten-digit key pad, approaching the pad Tails dialled in a code and the garage door opened. Walking closer so he could get a better view, Ferris peered inside the large opening. Inside was a messy workshop with scattered tools, mechanical parts, and numerous crumpled cans of an unidentifiable soft drink.

Feeling a nudge on his side Ferris looked around and immediately jumped. The nudger had been the tip of one of the hover plane's wings which along with the rest of the craft was slowly floating towards the open garage.

Finding the event humorous Tails released a laugh which after a glare from Ferris grew louder and in the human's opinion more obnoxious. Still laughing Tails turned, walked inside the garage, and opened a door leading to the rest of the house. After a motion implying he should follow, Ferris also proceeded into the house.

Walking through the inner garage doorway Ferris emerged into a small living room. Glancing around the room the only noticeable features were a navy blue couch, a small wooden coffee table, and a flat screen TV mounted on the wall.

Seeing Tails standing over something in the corner Ferris became curious and moved over to see what he was doing. As the human got closer he began to hear the familiar sounds of an answering machine. Realizing the fox's messages were none of his business Ferris stopped and began to look around the plain room again although he couldn't help but over-hear the message that was playing.

"_Second message_." a mechanical female voice sounded. Next a hyper but serious male voice began to speak, "Tails the second you hear this message turn on channel six! Now! He got out!"

The recording cut out with that ominous message still hanging in the air. Ferris turned to look at Tails who now had a sufficiently worried and confused look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Ferris asked.

Ferris was actually somewhat surprised to hear Tails answer which instead of being one word was instead nothing. Instead Tails walked over to the coffee table, picked up a TV remote, and turned on the television. Immediately the form of a Mobian dog newscaster, dressed in a expensive black suit filled the screen.

"... Reports are still coming in surrounding the recent Prison Island, prison break but, GUN has confirmed one fact, Ivo Robotnik has escaped."


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Hello everybody sorry this update took so long, I've been really busy with school and Xbox and basically just being lazy in general. Anyway I hope you enjoy my seventh installment and don't forget to review.

_Yours Truly, Strikfence_

Chapter 7: Who Put That Ceiling There

Mystic Ruins, Planet Mobius, October 1st 2012

Tails continued to stare at the TV in disbelief. He and his friends had spent years fighting the evil doctor, and when they had finally gotten him arrested he had thought it was all over. He had thought his life could finally be peaceful.

Ferris looked at the television and then at the Mobian watching it. He wasn't quite sure who this Ivo Robotnik guy was but his escape had clearly extremely surprised the fox.

Ferris reached out his hand slightly towards his host, "So who's this Robotnik guy?"

The question seemed to snap Tails out of his daze and he turned to face the questioner, "Robotnik is a criminal genius who is extremely skilled at building robots and other machinery." Tails turned, picked up the TV remote, and muted the program. "A year and a half ago some of my friends and I worked together with GUN to bring him to justice. Thanks to this a seventeen year long battle between Robotnik and the world was ended."

Ferris was dumbfounded, on Earth he had met Geniuses from all over the world and read about even more, he couldn't imagine any of these people purposefully creating a battle with the _entire world**.**_

As he often did when he couldn't think of what to say, Ferris gave out a sarcastic, "So this guy wanted to take over the world?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it." Tails looked back towards the silent TV, "With this new, "he paused, trying to think of the right word, "information, I have some phone calls to make. Unfortunately that means I don't quite have time to help you with the gateway, but I do have some tools and stuff downstairs that you could tinker with if you want."

Ferris grinned. _Finally something that I might actually be able to make sense of, _he thought. "Sure, I guess."

The two tailed fox led Ferris through a hallway to a steel door with a ten digit keypad and a retina scanner.

Ferris looked at the fox, slightly amused, "So your basement is top secret?"

Tails placed his thumb on the scanner as he spoke, "No, not top secret but, there are many people who would love to see some of my inventions before I begin to mass produce them."

"Oh, so you're an inventor."

The door opened and Tails walked in and began to walk down the staircase inside. "Kind of, yes but, I don't usually make things for the marketplace, usually I just make things because I can."

Ferris could relate to the Mobian in this way. When Ferris developed his inventions he didn't do it with sales in mind. Unfortunately it cost money to run a secret lab inside the Rocky Mountains. Then there was also the U.S. government threatening to find and then storm his lab if he didn't continue to help them stay ahead in the technology sector. Ferris knew that even if he had stopped helping them they would never had been able to find his lab, but he did like being able to go out into the city occasionally without asking Solaris hack the U.S. military network every time.

When Ferris reached the bottom of the staircase he gave a good look over the room at the "basement" he was now standing in. In one word it was huge. The huge room gave reminded Ferris of the his high-school gym class from when he was eight.

The room was littered with uncountable mechanical devices, tools, and numerous crumpled cans of the same soft drink Ferris had seen in the garage in what appeared to be no particular order.

Tails decided to break the silence, "Well you can fiddle around down here, I need to go make those calls."

Ferris was about to ask Tails what exactly he should do down here but when he looked beside him to where the yellow fox was a moment before he was gone, already walking up the stairs towards the main floor of the house.

Sighing, Ferris turned towards the huge mess of a room, "And to think, I thought my lab was a mess."

(Chapter Break)

Meanwhile on the first floor, Tails was dialling the number of the blue hedgehog who had left him the message on his answering machine. Finishing dialling, Tails pressed the phone to his ear. It rang, once, twice, as the third ring began the familiar voice of his adopted older answered.

"Hey Tails, I'm assuming you've heard."

Tails looked over to the still muted news program on his TV, "Yeah I turned on the news after I heard your message."

"What do you think?"

"I think that we need to find him before he finds us."

"That's a great idea in theory, but you of all people know that he never hides in the same place more than once, so finding him is going to be hard."

"True. Have you thought about what you're going to do with Amy and the kids?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I think Robotnik's next move is obvious, chances are he's going to try to hurt you, and the easiest way to do that is through your family."

"You're right," Sonic paused, "Hey Tails I hate to ask you this, but with your big bank account and all, do you think maybe you could put Amy and the kids up in one of your houses for awhile. I would do it myself but the twenty dollars in my wallet doesn't really buy a nice place to stay."

"Sure, I'd be happy to. Although I'm pretty sure any hotel would be willing to put up the Hero Of Mobius' family for free."

"Would they be willing to? Yes. Would I be willing to. No."

"So there's a difference between my charity and the charity of a stranger?"

"Yeah, you would help me whether I was famous or not."

Tails let out a little chuckle, "Fair enough. Hey, while I have you on the phone, do you think you could help me round up the gang? I figure with recent events we need to get everyone together to plan our next move."

"Sure! I'll see if I can't find Rouge and Shadow. Also I think I know where the Chaotix hang out, so I'll talk to them as well."

"Thanks, I'll call Cream, and I already know that Knuckles is coming so I'll call him, tell him what's going on, and figure how long until Angel Island will arrive."

"I'm assuming you want everyone to meet at your place?"

"Correct you are."

(Chapter Break)

Completely oblivious to anything else, Ferris was still busy exploring what was in his opinion the messiest workshop he had ever seen. Every direction he looked he either saw a pile of parts, tools, pop cans, or some combination of the three. Occasionally he did run into an actual invention of some sort he was amazed, Tails' inventions were state of the art and although Ferris was reluctant to admit it in some cases might just meet the quality of his own.

Turning around the corner beside what had a similar appearance to a half finished bi-plane something caught Ferris' eye. Just ahead, sitting on a large wooden table were two mechanical legs. Intrigued, Ferris walked up to it for further examination. The legs were small in comparison to a human but seemed very similar to the size of Tails. Curiosity overtook Ferris and he began to move the legs around on the table. Reaching the "waist" area of the legs Ferris discovered the legs to be hollow as if they were made to have someone wear them as pants. It was with this realization that it hit him. Quickly he grabbed a screwdriver from a pile of tools near the legs and began to unscrew a rough steel plate from the side of the "knee". The now open mechanics confirmed his suspicions, these legs were actually strength enhancers. Unfortunately, upon further examination, it was quite obvious to Ferris that they were disfunctional. The hydraulics didn't work together the way they should due to how small and thin the legs had to be to fit a person of Tails' proportions.

_Too small and thin, but what if..._, Ferris' actions became faster than most people could comprehend. Searching around the messy room he soon came upon the parts he needed. Bringing them to the table he dumped them beside the legs and got to work doing what he did best, inventing.

_Just wait until Tails sees this_, was the last non-work related thought before he became completely engrossed in the job at hand.

(Chapter Break)

Several long phone conversations later Tails was on his way downstairs to see what trouble the human in his house could have possibly caused. Once at the bottom of the stairs it didn't take Tails long to find Ferris. Walking to a distance of within a few feet Tails saw what "trouble" the human had gotten into. Ferris was currently in the process of strapping on a pair of what to Tails looked suspiciously like his recent attempt at strength enhancing leggings.

Tails just watched for a moment but eventually couldn't help himself, "What are you doing?"

Ferris gave a little jump and fell right on his bottom. Seeing this Tails burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Hey, It wasn't that funny."

Ferris stood up and Tails managed to contain himself long enough to ask his question again, "What exactly are you doing?"

"Well you see, ummm," Ferris paused, how was he going to explain this? "I sorta found these strength enhancers and, well, I noticed they didn't work, so I figured I'd, umm, make them work."

Tails looked at the metal leggings Ferris was wearing skeptically. "And do they work now?"

Ferris looked down towards the leggings also, "They should but I haven't tested them yet."

"Well then why don't you try them out?"

Without answering Ferris bet down on one knee and began to fiddle with something on the side of his metal covered knee. When he was satisfied with what he was doing he stood up and made a position as if he was about to take off running.

"Here I go."

The teen took three running steps between two piles of machine parts and took off in a mighty leap. Tails watched amazed as Ferris soared over the mechanical mess that was his workshop, and right headfirst into the ceiling.

"Oh _shit!_" Tails exclaimed as he took off to help the injured genius.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Hey everybody, sorry this chapter took so long I've been really busy(and lazy) lately but I finished it and here it is. Anyway, enjoy and don't forget to review.

_Sincerely, Strikefence_

Chapter 8: Wake Up Buttercup

**Mystic Ruins, Planet Mobius, October 2****nd**** 2012**

For the second time in two days Ferris woke up in a strange bed. Looking around he noticed that he was in a small, bare room that only contained a night table with a lamp and the cushy bed he was sleeping on.

Pulling the blankets off of him, he sat on the side of the bed and began to rub his temples. Suddenly he began to feel pain throughout the top of his head. Quickly glancing around to see if there might be an advil somewhere in this room he came up empty. With nothing else to do he ignored the pain, got up out of bed, and headed towards the open door opposite. As he walked he did what any responsible gun wielder would do and felt around his belt for the pistol that he had strapped there. The familiar holster and it's corresponding gun was missing. Worried, the teen felt inside his pockets and found that his ammunition clips were also missing. Ferris looked back to the night table to see if perhaps his possessions were there. Unfortunately the only things on the table were a lamp and a faint coat of dust.

With his worries in mind he made his way out the door and down the hallway. In the hallway were two more doors, one open with a bathroom inside and one closed. Paying these doors no heed he continued down what he now realized was a short hallway. At the end of the hall he found a staircase which he used. At about the halfway point of the stairs he began to hear the faint sound of a news broadcast emanating from a TV.

"-counts coming in from GUN state that at least thirty prisoners were killed in the breakout and at least as many guards were killed as well."

Ignoring the sounds Ferris continued down the stairs. At the bottom he emerged inside the familiar plain living room of Tails' house he had seen the day before. Inside said living room was the house's owner, sitting on the couch drinking from a cup of what Ferris theorized to be coffee in one hand, and examining Ferris' pistol in the other.

Without looking over Tails said, "Well look who's finally awake."

"Good morning. So what exactly happened yesterday?"

Tails actually looked at the human with a slight curve in his lips as he said, "Let me guess, you feel like someone hit you over the head with a bat?"

Rubbing his aching skull Ferris replied, "That pretty much sums it up."

"Well you sort of tried to use those leggings."

"Yeah I remember that."

"Then you hit your head on the ceiling."

"Oh, well that explains a lot."

Suddenly a low grumble came from the stomach area of the human in the room.

In hearing this Tails stood up and placed the pistol down on the coffee table, "So I'm assuming that even in your dimension morning is the universal time for breakfast."

"Pretty much."

"Well good, I've got some toast in the toaster and..." the familiar sound of toast springing up out of a toaster sounded from somewhere nearby. "speaking of which, also I've got some eggs and bacon in the fridge that are just begging to get cooked."

"Sure, breakfast sound great, I have just one question though." Tails rose one of his eyebrows in a cartoon-like fashion. "The eggs are from an actual non-Mobian chicken right?"

The only response Ferris received was a doubled over fox laughing hysterically.

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, October 2****nd**** 2012**

As the floating Island slowly crept closer to the Mystic Ruins, Knuckle began to get bored. Although he did enjoy the usual peace and quiet that was the life of the guardian the recent events had reminded him of the action filled life he used to have. Then there was also Tails' call the evening before telling him that the worst had occurred and Robotnik had broken out of prison. While he didn't relish the thought of having to fight the tyrannical doctor again he did in some ways long for the business that fighting him brought.

Eventually in his boredom Knuckles found himself walking towards a small cave at the base of Angel Island's large mountain. The space around the cave's mouth was a decent sized plain grassy area surrounded by trees and the cavern itself was surrounded in moss and ivy.

Knuckles took his first step inside and immediately felt a rush of cold air as the cave's air enveloped him. Compared to the rest of the island, which usually had somewhat warm almost-but-not-quite-tropical climate, this cave was abnormally cold.

After several more steps he adjusted to the cold air of the cave, but unfortunately he did have another problem. The light, or rather lack of, was toying with his vision and he couldn't see a thing. Knuckles stopped, turned, and jogged towards the cave exit. Once there he continued to jog the last few metres to the edge of the clearing. Looking up Knuckles saw a fair sized branch that he felt would serve his purpose. With the branch in mind Knuckles, using his knuckles spikes as claws, began to climb the tree. Once high enough the echidna grabbed hold of the tree trunk with one arm and reached out towards his target branch with another. Suddenly with his free hand Knuckles gave the branch a quick_ "light" _punch. The branch gave way immediately and fell to the ground, followed by Knuckles who jumped down after it. Picking up the branch in one hand, the guardian brought it to the cave opening and held the end of it to the cave wall. The echidna brought up his free fist and scraped his knuckle spikes against the wall, several small sparks bounced off the wall but none of them took. Knuckles tried again, this time a spark came off the wall and caught hold of the end of the branch. Quickly a soft glow began to come from the contact point on the branch and Knuckles, remembering how blowing on sparks causes them to glow, began to gently blow on the end of the stick. Soon flames began to flicker from the end and Knuckles grinned, now he could see.

Using his makeshift torch Knuckles made his way further into the cave. As he journeyed further into the cave one primary thought began to overwhelm him: Why hadn't he seen this place before?

Knuckles had lived on Angel Island since he was born. He was now thirty-two and he had thought that had seen everything there was to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. Now he wasn't so sure.

As Knuckles journeyed further he began to notice a slight slant in the floor that seemed to increase with every step he took. With this slant Knuckles began to get the feeling that he was travelling into the bowels of the Earth, then he remembered that he was actually several kilometres above said Earth. That made him feel somewhat stupid.

Due to being lost in thoughts of stupidity and bowels Knuckles barely noticed the end of the cave sitting right in front of him.

"Whoa." his voice echoed back to him several times before dissipating.

The confused echidna placed his palm on the smooth wall in front of him and sighed. His first thoughts were the obvious _Well that was useless._

Out of frustration for wasting his time Knuckles pulled back his free fist and punched the wall. To the guardian's surprise a small crack appeared in the wall from which light and a gust of air poured out.

A plain "Huh" was Knuckles' only reaction.

Knuckles figuring that whatever light was on the other side of the wall would be sufficient, threw his make-shift torch behind him and gave a quick double punch to the area near the crack opening up hole about the size of his head from which even more air and light emerged. Knuckles, growing bored of his current progress pulled back his right hand, curled it into a fist, and gave one final mighty punch. Nothing could have survived such a punch, especially a thin rock wall. As the rock gave way and fell to the ground, Knuckles peered through the new passageway into the cavern beyond.

**Mystic Ruins, Planet Mobius, October 2****nd**** 2012**

After Tails laughter had subsided he had lead Ferris into his small kitchen where Ferris was told to basically sit down at the table and wait.

Looking around the kitchen, Ferris noticed everything within seemed to be proportional to the small size of it's owner. There was a small stove that was around two feet tall, beside the stove was a small counter with an identical height. And then there was the table Ferris was sitting at. The table was about the same height as the counter but not nearly as long. To Ferris it looked as if two fairies were about to walk in the door and start drinking tee at it. The only two things in the entire room that seemed to be made for humans were the ceiling and the chair Ferris was currently sitting in, which Tails had to bring in from the basement.

Finally after what had felt like an eternity of starvation to Ferris, Tails placed two plates of breakfast on the table.

Tails watched Ferris bend over and pick up his plate and fork. "Yeah, the table might be a little small but at least I found that chair, right?"

"True, I think if I was to sit in one of your chairs I would have broken it."

Tails took a bite of his eggs before replying, "And then I would have made you build a new one."

"Seeing how much junk you have downstairs," Ferris took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. "I could probably build you a better one."

"Speaking of which, how did you get my Strength Leggings to work? I've been working on them for ages!"

"I don't really know, I just saw them, had and idea, and then let instinct take over."

"What do you mean, instinct?"

"I just sorta think of something that I want to build and then sorta go into a zone where I know exactly what to do to get what I want."

Not knowing what else to say the two sat and ate the rest of their breakfast in silence with only the sound of chewing portraying that they might actually be living things.

Tails was the first to finish so he chose to break the silence first, "So what do you think we are going to need for your gateway?"

Ferris shoved his last morsel of food into his mouth and swallowed whole, "Well at the very least we're going to need a micro particle accelerator, two high-powered plasma-ion lasers, and twenty pounds of instant coffee."

"Wait, why the coffee?"

"Trust me, you can't survive days without sleep if you don't have coffee."

Tails nodded knowingly but then thought about it, "What do you mean days?"

**Angel Island, Planet Mobius, October 2nd 2012**

The cavern was a rectangular and a was decently sized. Knuckles estimated it to probably be somewhere around twenty meters squared. The cavern walls were completely covered in perfectly preserved carvings and cave paintings that would be recognizable as Ancient Echidna to even the most anti-cultural human from an anti-Mobian community. Looking up Knuckles identified the source of light as a glowing, light blue stalagmite hanging from the ceiling.

Knuckles finally decided to take a step inside to further investigate the strange room. Giving the carvings and paintings a second look he could tell that they told some sort of story, perhaps a war story or some part of Echidna mythology. Searching around the room for the beginning of the story, he found it on the left wall.

"Origins Of Humanity" he translated out loud. "Wait, WHAT?"


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Hello readers, how are you all this afternoon? Well I am very good. I FINALLY finished chapter nine and it's all rainbows and lollipops now. Anyway enough about me, it's time for The Gateway

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review.

_Sincerely, Strikefence_

Chapter 9: Game Plan

**White House Secret Meeting Room, Washington DC, United States Of America, Planet Earth, June 27****th**** 2013**

Days Creator Missing: 339

Solaris watched through a wall mounted camera unto a small rectangular room where six national leaders sat around a black rectangular table. President Barack Obama of the USA was the first to speak up at this meeting.

"Welcome gentlemen," he looked over to Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, "and lady. I'm very glad you could all join me today, despite all of the issues occurring within each of your home nations."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada rose an eyebrow at the greeting and spoke, "Well as far as I know these "issues" are the reason we're here today, or did you invite us all here for coffee and tea?"

"Speaking of tea, would you happen to have any?" David Cameron, the PM of the United Kingdom inquired.

Obama mentally sighed, "Tea _and_ coffee will be arriving shortly, but now onto more pressing matters." the president pulled out a small remote from under the table and pressed the centre button causing several monitors mounted on the wall to his left to light up, presenting the leaders with a large map of the world with North America at the centre. He pressed another button and the screens zoomed in on the Pacific Ocean and its bordering countries.

Obama continued his speech, "As I'm sure you all know the CCA has struck at several large cities and military outposts in the past month, namely Hawaii where over one hundred thousand civilians were killed in the initial strike."

Solaris opened her data files to the CCA. Standing for Central Communist Alliance, it was a military alliance between several countries who's primary goal seemed to be controlling several of the world's more "outspoken" nations. The Alliance's primary members consisted of The People's Republic Of China, Russia, Burma, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Palestine, and the Sudan. Solaris gave herself a moment to process these countries. Several were large military countries and a few even had access to nuclear weapons or technology.

Solaris tuned back into the conversation where Prime Minister Gillard was speaking. "Although I understand your personal concern for attacks on you own nation's soil, you have to remember that other nations have been affected as well. Look at Darwin!" she pointed at the digital map in the general direction of Australia's north coast. "That city was ravaged not two weeks ago with the death count still rising as more and more bodies are found."

Obama raised his hands in a gesture of peace, "I'm sorry if I came across as trying to place my nation's damages as more important but I was just beginning to discuss the locations that have suffered under an attack."

For the first time in the meeting Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, spoke up. "I'm sorry to interrupt you Mister Obama but I have to say, we all know the locations of where the CCA has attacked. In fact part of the reason we're each here is because our respective has been attacked by the CCA. So instead of telling us information he already know, why don't we get to discussing what our next move will be to repel these bastards who love to kill innocent people."

Finally the sixth member of the meeting, Yoshihiko Noda, the Prime Minister of Japan gave his first comment. "Not only repel but fight back. The CCA is not the type to back down after being stopped at one attack. The only way to stop this conflict is to take it to their soil."

Canada's PM looked nodded his head in agreement, "I agree but, how are we to reach their soil with their defences the way they are. They even have the North Pole under watch for Christ's sake."

Upon hearing Harper's complaints the spying AI had an idea. Searching through her schematics database she searched for something Ferris had designed but never had the space to build. Once she found her target file she saved the schematics to her primary data and exited the database.

With her already open link into the White House she took hold of the map screen. Suddenly, to the leaders surprise, the image of a blond woman's face replaced the map beside them.

"What the fu.." was muttered by more than one of the leaders.

Solaris watched their reactions with great amusement as she greeted them. "Greetings humans, take me to your leaders."

Unfortunately the humour was lost on the leaders who were currently more interested with why there was a huge face on their monitor.

Prime Minister Noda was the first to reply with the basic question on everyone's minds, "Who are you and how did you gain access to this network?"

Solaris' image rolled it's eyes, "Let's not worry about the how for now but instead let's speak on the why?"

Obama raised an eyebrow at this, "Okay then, _why_ did you gain access to the world's most secure network."

To anybody the AI's huge grin would have lead them to believe her intentions were not very serious. "Because I see you have a problem that I believe I can help you with."

"Oh really? And what problem could that possibly be?"

"The CCA."

"And how could you help us with this?"

Solaris' image was replaced with the schematics of an over-complicated jetplane, but her cheery voice remained. "With this."

The six leaders looked over the image carefully obviously trying to discover what could be so special about it.

Netanyahu, being the first to finish his examination, asked, "So how is a jetplane going to help us break through their defences?"

Solaris was getting seriously bored of the stupid questions being asked of her, but nevertheless still answered. "This is not a jetplane, but a fully functional hoverplane equipped with high powered offensive missiles and a hull that can withstand the stresses of a dozen Ferris bombs."

The US President could tell whoever this was they were offering a piece of technology that could prove vital in breaking the CCA defences, but he felt that something about this was too good.

"What would you be asking for in return for this craft?"

Solaris' grinning face filled the screen once again as she stated her price, "All I want is the parts to build it."

**Mystic Ruins, Planet Mobius, October 2****nd**** 2012**

As Robotnik began to fly over the Mystic Ruins he looked down upon the jungle that took up most of it.

"Disgusting." he muttered to himself quietly. Robotnik had never been fond of nature, in fact he loathed the very existence of it. Unfortunately though, forests and jungles, where he normally built his bases, were the easiest places to hide if you're trying not to be found.

Looking forward now, the scientist could just barely make out the outline of the huge tower structure he had once owned within this jungle. It had been one of his few well built bases and was in his opinion one of his favourites. It was quite unfortunate however that after a failed attempt to use a flying battle-cruiser to take over the world, GUN had located it's point of launch and sent forces to clear it out. The only reason the tower was still standing was because environmentalists had argued with GUN that blowing a tower all to hell within such a fragile ecosystem would cause irreparable damage. Robotnik loved the irony that the people who he wished to enslave had preserved what could very well lead to their enslavement.

As the eagle shaped Egg Eagle containing Robotnik got closer, said scientist was able to get a better look at the red and grey tower he had once called home. The tower was almost how he had left it, at least on the outside, with the main body of the tower being covered in huge dark-grey metal panels with a painted red outline on each. The only noticeable change he could see was a section of the upper tower wall was blown out, the section that had once beared his logo, a red picture of his face. Robotnik grinned to himself, now he had yet another reason to destroy GUN.

Robotnik angled his craft down towards the bottom of the tower. This wasn't the usual landing bay he preferred to use but it was the entrance closest to the ruins his tower was built upon.

It took him very little time to reach the docking bay and just a little more time than that to extract himself from the Egg Eagle. Now inside of the bay, Robotnik was finally able to see exactly what GUN had done. The building itself seemed unharmed and as far as he could see, no metal panelled wall even had a scratch, but there was one thing that made him somewhat disappointed. Everything was gone. From the scrap machine parts he had stored in the corner to the auto repair bot he had always used when he was too lazy to fix things himself.

"Damn." he muttered under his breath.

He had been expecting as such but seeing instead of suspecting made him really comprehend how empty having nothing made him feel.

A small grin crossed the man's expression, this was all going to change.

Using a small control tablet he had found within the Hawk, Robotnik accessed the tower's main power system and activated the dim red backup lights in the hallways. Using this glow he began to make his way through the plain metal hallways of the tower. Soon his path lead him to a large, circular elevator where at the centre sat a single orange Egg Pawn. This robot, of Robtnik's invention, was a slightly humanoid robot which had a round elliptical body, two thin grey metal arms, two legs of similar design, and a hemisphere shaped head which bore a pointed nose and two lights as eyes. It's hands and feet were somewhat big in comparison to the legs and arms but seemed to suit the shape and size of the body.

As Robotnik looked down at the bot he noted that it was in a sitting position of the floor and that its eyes weren't lit. this lead him to the extremely obvious conclusion that it was either dead or deactivated.

The scientist stepped inside the elevator and pressed a button on his tablet. The elevator immediately began to lower itself and it's occupants onto the lower floor. As he stepped out he gave the pawn a quick glance then turned his head back towards the next plain metal hallway and went on his way.

Most of the ruins had been destroyed when he built the tower but there had been a small section, a room, that had intrigued him. The section contained a small story that spoke about the origins of Angel Island and a god that caused the island to float.

Robotnik pressed yet another button on his tablet, opening the door. Through the open door stepped the fat man and he took a good look at the stone walls within. The walls to the left and right were covered pictures of several generations of Echidna rulers and on the far wall from the door was the story of Angel Island, complete with pictures and words.

Calling upon his rough memory of the Echidna language Robotnik began to reread.

_Despite the will of fate we have survived our inevitable demise just to face another. The human's god of information has blessed us and prevented the Nocturnus from gaining possession of the Great Gem_, _brining it to rest within the clouds along with the rest of our tribe. After the gem's ascension the humans journeyed with us to battle the Nocturnus and to our surprise we found that they were gone. The once powerful tribe is now but a large crater in the ground._

_Discovering this caused us to rejoice., the long battle is over although the reason is yet unexplained._

There was more to the story but Robotnik wasn't particularly interested. What he was interested in however was the god. A god who could cause an entire island to float in the sky would be a powerful ally or better yet a slave.

A evil grin covered the scientist's face, "I think it's time to pay Angel Island a visit."


End file.
